Unsinkable
by Chika Winkles
Summary: This is a story I had to write for school, so here goes nothing: Katherine Buckley is your average passenger, blissing out on the "Ship of Dreams." Little does she know what the fates have in store for her.


Unsinkable

Throngs of people wove their way through the bustling streets of Queenstown, Ireland, anticipating the arrival of the great _Titanic_. Passengers and their collective families milled around the docks, saying last minute goodbyes and preparing to board. The mighty ship had been sighted on the horizon a good while ago, and grew larger every moment.

A tall girl of 18, standing alone on the docks, rested her excited gaze on the now clearly visible smokestacks. She fiddled with the ends of her long, dark brown hair, contrasted sharply by her pasty complexion. Clutched in her long-fingered hand was a boarding pass reading _"__Katherine Buckley, Third-Class, 329944."_

She checked quickly that she had all of her luggage with her, wishing her family were here to send her off. But alas, they were back in Cork City, her hometown. Her destination was Roxbury, Massachusetts, where she hoped to meet up with her sister. Little did she know that fate had other plans.

The unusually intelligent girl sat lost amongst her thoughts for a while, until the crowd massed around her surged forward eagerly, breaking into her reverie. She grabbed her things and followed the crowd. As the passengers spilled onto the deck, she was shepherded into the lower third-class section, where she immediately sought her cabin, a small space containing two built-in bunk beds, with a pull-out drawer visible in the side. A small mirror above an even smaller sink sprouted from the wall. The _Titanic's_ third-class quarters were a rival to some first-class cabins on other luxury ships. Katherine smiled, unloading her things into the drawer of the lower bunk on the left.

She finished unpacking, wondering idly who she'd be rooming with. She grabbed her satchel and serge jacket, heading for the saloon. She climbed up the small stairwell, emerging onto a decent sized dining room overflowing with tables.

A flustered looking maître d' walk up, acknowledging her with a courteous nod.

"First available seat?" he asked. She nodded. "This way, Miss," he said, weaving his way through the many tables to the far corner, where a table for two was set. A man in his early twenties sat in one of the seats, clean shaven and elegant, dressed in a brown overcoat, grey pants, a blue jersey, and well polished black boots.

The maître d' gestured to the seat opposite him, and hurried off. Katherine pulled up her skirts and sat down.

"Jeremiah Burke," he said, inclining his head. "And you?" he flashed her a dazzling smile.

"Katherine Buckley," she replied without missing a beat. She reluctantly smiled back, unwilling to reveal her false upper teeth. She picked up the lunch menu daintily; after a few minutes of perusing, she decided on currant buns and tea. She set down the menu to find his sharp green eyes staring, it seemed, to the very core of her soul. She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"What brings you aboard the mighty _Titanic_?" he inquired, completely at ease.

"I come from Ireland," she replied, her slight lilt pronounced from the excitement and stress of the day. "I'm traveling to Roxbury, Massachusetts, where I hope to meet my sister. And yourself?"

"I also come from Ireland, the County Cork area," he said, an identical lilt apparent. "My cousin Nora Hegarty and I intend to meet with my two sisters in America." He stopped, smiling up at a newly arrived waiter. He placed his order smoothly, and the waiter turned to her.

"Just tea," she said, her hunger evaporated. The waiter nodded and set off to fetch their food. The twosome chatted amiably about the exciting prospect of a new life in America, stopping only when their food arrived. Katherine leaned back in her chair, pleased. She had been expecting to travel quite alone, and had not been on the ship for two hours and already befriended someone.

"Come to the deck with me?" he offered as they finished their food.

"Of course," she responded enthusiastically. He beamed at her, leading the way onto the upper decks. Katherine noted thankfully that the queues of waving people had receded.

She leaned fearlessly over the precariously thin railing, beaming down at the glittering waves.

"Dolphins!" she gasped, pointing down with her free hand towards sleek grey shapes throwing themselves from the water. Just then the ship lurched, throwing them both back onto the deck. Katherine rushed back to the rail, where the dolphins were keeping pace with the mighty vessel.

"So fast," she breathed, completely entranced. The animals veered away from the ship, slowly disappearing into the depths of the Atlantic.

"Magnificent creatures, aren't they?" Jeremiah smiled at her.

"Magnificent," she echoed. She gazed out at the sky, barely noticing when darkness began to fall.

"We should go back," he murmured to Katherine, making her start. The prospect of a bed, warm and welcoming, was highly appealing to her. She nodded. And so they strode down the boardwalk, speaking only to say goodbyes as they parted to their separate abodes.

Her body was tired but her mind abuzz. When she entered her cabin, it was to find the person occupying the bunk above hers snoring peacefully. A quick glance revealed the other two bunks to be empty. She changed quickly into her nightclothes and let thoughts of her new life lull her into a deep and dreamless slumber.

****

Friday the twelfth dawned brightly, as if its sole purpose was to illuminate all the glimmering facets of the sea. Katherine awoke as suddenly and completely as if the filtering sunlight had been an alarm. Her fellow bunkmates asleep, she got up stealthily.

The uninterrupted blue skies were a cause for cheerfulness; merrily whistled tunes could be heard nearly anywhere. Katherine strolled down the deck, now dressed in a pale green ensemble, enjoying herself but keeping an eye out for Jeremiah.

The morning treated Katherine favorably: she saw several more pods of dolphins, and, to her delight, even glimpsed a whale. She soaked up the beautiful day, at least until her unfed stomach began gurgling in protest. She realized with a frown that she'd missed breakfast. She hurried towards the saloon, trying to beat the rush. As it happened, she was caught up in it anyway. She arrived in the saloon, eagerly scanning it for Jeremiah. Nothing.

She nabbed a table without waiting for a pesky maître d'. She ate rather more than she would normally, irritated with herself and Jeremiah.

After lunch, she nipped down to the third class bar, just to let go a bit. Aside from one incident with a wine-sodden drunkard, she had a good time. She returned to her room, slightly tipsy, to nap before dinnertime.

She awoke, momentarily lost as to where she was. She wandered the halls, guided by her stomach to the saloon. She had a light dinner, compensating her big lunch. She again avoided the maître d's, finding them increasingly irritating. After she'd finished, Katherine lingered outside the doors to the saloon, hoping to catch Jeremiah on his way back from dinner. Still nothing.

Defeated, she trekked back to her deserted cabin. She undressed and slid into her nightclothes. She tossed and turned for a while, and she was awake to see her bunkmates return and go to bed one by one. When sleep finally did claim her it was a light sleep, plagued by dreams pervaded with a sour disappointment.

****

Katherine woke up slowly today, not wanting to get up at all. She dressed sluggishly. There was only one other person in the room, who was out cold. As she stumbled out into the hall, she ran--quite literally--into none other than Jeremiah.

"Oh!" she squeaked. She immediately began trying to untangle her skirts. Jeremiah smiled ever so slightly at the flustered girl before him.

"Hello," he said calmly. "I sincerely hope you don't think me rude, we seemed to just miss each other yesterday," Katherine looked up, startled. It had not even occurred to her that he might be avoiding her. In fact, the notion seemed quite funny in her sleepy state.

"No, no, why would I think you rude? It wasn't as if you were avoiding me." She giggled. He nodded, amused by her silliness.

"Meet me in the General Room, later tonight? Say, after dinner?" He inquired. Katherine blinked. She hadn't been expecting this.

"Yes," she said enthusiastically, suddenly fully awake.

He tipped his battered hat at her. "See you there!" she stared after him as he turned the corner. A grin slowly stretched across her face, happiness welling inside her like a balloon.

The notion of meeting Jeremiah tonight kept her buoyant all day, putting a smile on her face and a spring in her step. When the time finally did come to meet him in the General Room (after a hardly touched dinner), butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She attempted to dispel her nerves: _There's no need to be nervous, you're just meeting in the lounge. As _friends.

But when she entered the big wood paneled room and saw him sitting there, lounging on a teal loveseat, her heart (or maybe it was her stomach…) gave an involuntary squeeze. She walked over, sitting down next to him.

"Hi," she said breathlessly.

"Hello," he replied, calm as ever. "Have you been to the General Room yet?"

"No, I've spent most my time up on the deck, I've never seen much of the ocean and I want to get my fill now," Katherine elaborated.

"I see. Let me show you around," he flashed that dazzling smile.

"I'd like that," she smiled back. He got up, turning around expectantly, and she followed suit.

And so he proceeded to show her around the big room, which turned out to be the main place for third class entertainment. Most of the entertainment was self-generated, but Katherine learned just how fun it could be when the two joined in a massive and wild group dance. They danced for a good amount of time, but Jeremiah finally pulled a laughing Katherine off the floor, finishing the tour, watching a few more dances, and just people watching in general.

"Jeremiah? I'm having an extraordinary time, but I think I'll head back, I really am quite tired," Katherine said after a while.

"Oh, yes, I forgot you weren't used to this sort of thing," He smiled crookedly.

"I probably will be soon if I keep in acquaintance with you," she said happily.

"True, true," he mused. "Shall I walk you back to your room?" Katherine nodded, and they started back to her cabin. When they arrived, it was deserted as usual. They lingered out in the hall for a few minutes, promising to meet up tomorrow. Sleep found Katherine quickly tonight, her heart light and giddy, visions of Jeremiah dancing in her head.

****

The next day passed in a blur, breakfast with Jeremiah, a morning on the deck, lunch alone, an afternoon spent in the General Room, no dinner and an evening alone. During her time in the General Room, she even made some new acquaintances, a delightful pair of girls called Rosa and Karen. She went to sleep tired, her body succumbing quickly to sleep.

****

"Uugghhh…" Katherine moaned. What was that persistent knocking? Why wouldn't it go away? The sharp rapping continued. She rolled out of bed and blearily groped her way over to the door. "What?" she slurred.

"The ship is sinking, Miss!!" a small crew member with a high voice exclaimed. "Everyone's required to wear a lifejacket and get to the deck!" he deposited a few lifejackets in her arms, then hurried off to wake their neighbors. They'd woken up the first two classes with reassurances that this was a drill, but it was obvious now that The "unsinkable" vessel was going down. Katherine stood there for a moment, stunned, before running back in her cabin, rousing her bunkmates. She donned her lifejacket last, after dressing hastily for cold weather. Making sure the others' lifejackets were secure, she ushered them out, following only when they were all gone.

The foursome hurried in a sleep-clouded panic towards the upper deck, the tilting of the ship and fine layer of water on the floor not doing any good to calm them. After slipping along their way for a good ten minutes, they reached a hysterical mob of people pushing and shoving to get up the stairs, not making any progress.

Katherine doubled back to find the other stairwell, going up the now-pronounced incline. "Jerimiah!!"

She ran to the startled man, kissing him full on the lips. He responded instantaneously, but she broke apart. "Don't go that way, you cant get through, I'm going this way, come with me!" the words tumbled out. The freezing water was now at their ankles. Out of nowhere, a short girl bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Jeremiah flew around a corner.

"Nora!" Jeremiah said, grabbing her by one arm. "This way!" They ran full tilt for the other exit. Upon getting there, they fought their way up the somewhat less crowded other stairs, breaking onto the deck, sloshing out of the mid-shin deep water. Her heart eased as she saw that there were still lifeboats aboard. She beelined for one, Jeremiah and Nora in tow.

"Hold it," an imposing man had stepped in front of them, blocking their access to the lifeboats. "Class?"

"Third," Katherine said nervously. The man shook his head sadly.

"First class first, then second, then third. I'm afraid you'll have to wait." He ushered them over to a crowd of terrified third classmen. She boggled the man, incensed.

"This is an outrage!" she shouted when none of the others showed signs of fighting back. "Their lives aren't worth more than ours!!" She was ignored.

And so they stood, for _hours_, until the third classmen were allowed to board. Katherine stamped her feet, half to keep warm and half from anticipation. Half an hour later, the deck was still swarming, and it was nearly their turn. The man boarding the ships turned around.

"No more ships!" he bellowed. Katherine absorbed his words, shocked. The crowd around her roared in outrage. She grabbed Jerimiah and Nora, making her way with difficulty up the steep slope towards the top of the ship. She grabbed some railing at towards the top of the ship, Jeremiah and Nora safely anchored beside her. Now that she had nothing to do, terror washed through her. She was going to die. _She was going to die_. She knew it, yet somehow it didn't seem real. This must all be a dream.

But the rail clutched in her long fingers wasn't a dream. Nor was the cold. There was so much she hadn't done. She'd wanted kids. She'd never had kids. She'd barely seen the world, but her last sight would be the spangled stars reflected in the unforgiving waters of the Atlantic.

Regret washed through her, regret for her mild life, she should have _lived!_ Regret for Jeremiah, with whom things would never go further than one kiss. Regret for…she couldn't even begin to name the things.

The ship was now tipped so badly that a crack tore through the middle of the _Titanic_, the bow nose-diving into the water, taking with it the few passengers not clinging to something at the back of the stern.

The stern became completely vertical, and Katherine held on with all her might. It began to slowly sink its the black depths. Katherine made a snap decision. "Goodbye, Jeremiah," she whispered, her tears freezing as soon as they formed on her pale cheeks. "I love you." She had no idea whether she did or not, but it was now or never. She relaxed her fingers, letting her body fall the long, long drop full of frigid night air.

The water hit her like a wall of ice. It was stabbing her from all directions, she couldn't think, she needed air--no, no, this was wrong, the wall was invading her lungs, she couldn't see, it was too bright, but oh, thank God, the pain was going away, the light was good, it was driving out the pain, the light was embracing her, she wanted to close her eyes, she was so tired, it was so cold, the light was all around her…


End file.
